Meet the Toyota C+walk. It’s a new three-wheeled electric scooter from the Japanese automaker designed to help people with limited mobility. While it shares some visual characteristics with battery electric vehicles like the Bird Three and Segway PT, its closest antecedent is the Concept-i Walk Toyota showed off back in 2017.
A removable lithium-ion battery allows the C+walk to travel about eight and a half miles on a single charge, after which it needs some two hours to recharge from zero to full. It can travel at a maximum speed of just over six miles per hour, though it’s possible to throttle it down to one mile per hour. Some of the more nifty features of the C+walk include an obstacle avoidance system. It will beep when it detects something on your path and slow down the vehicle if a collision is imminent.
Initially, the automaker envisions the scooter helping elderly workers travel across large facilities like warehouses, factories and airport terminals. In the future, the company hopes the Japanese government will certify the C+walk for use on public roads. Toyota dealers in Japan will start selling and leasing the scooter at the start of next month. It will start at ¥341,000, or just under $3,100 with the current exchange rate.